Editorial: Make sure your vote counts

So, you think your vote doesn't count, so you don't bother to cast one? Consider this: If nonvoters became voters, today's dead-heat presidential race might not even be close.

A Pew Research Center survey last week looked at the "sizable minority" of Americans who either can't or don't vote -- they constituted 43 percent of the voting age population in 2008 -- and found that "nonvoters favor Barack Obama over Mitt Romney by a wide margin (59 percent to 24 percent). ... By contrast, likely voters are evenly divided."

So who are these nonvoters?

More than a third are under age 30 and two-thirds are unmarried, the Pew report says. Some 13 percent are college graduates, and only 14 percent have a family income of $75,000 or more.

Compare that to likely voters: 87 percent are over age 30 and 40 are percent married; 38 percent are college graduates and 33 percent have a family income of $75,000 or more.

Perhaps it is no surprise that older, educated, economically comfortable married people are more inclined to cast a ballot. But younger, less educated and less affluent single people have just as much right -- and duty -- to help set this country's direction.

That responsibility isn't limited to choosing a president every four years. In California, there are 11 propositions -- many of them citizen-initiated -- on today's ballot. Each carries potential consequences that will be felt here long after the next president has left office.

Perhaps even more important, many cities and counties today are deciding local issues that will affect residents right where they live.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen reported last week that a record 18.2 million Californians are registered to vote in today's election. That's a record number, and yet it represents only 76.7 percent of eligible Californians.

In other words, nearly 1 of every four potential voters isn't even planning to participate. And 15 percent or more of those who are registered aren't expected to show up.

Those nonvoters are right about one thing, of course. Their vote doesn't count -- because they've thrown it away.

Voters, on the other hand, have from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. today to put theirs to work.